Bless the squire and his relations

On October 31, 2006 · 32 Comments · In The Ingterneck

Elvis is aliveOnce, when I was in junior col­lege, the dis­ci­pline mas­ter rep­ri­manded a school­mate for hav­ing his shirt tucked out while school was still in ses­sion. He said to the errant boy, “How dare you walk around with your shirt tucked out like that? What do you think this is? Your grandfather’s school?”

My school­mate thought for a bit, then decided to say it. He said, “As a mat­ter of fact, yes, it is”, as he pointed to the plaque at the college’s foyer, which informed all and sundry that the col­lege was built thanks in no small part to the very gen­er­ous dona­tions of his grand­fa­ther, one of the pio­neers of Singapore’s bank­ing industry.

Of course, that school­mate was pun­ished to a few days’ worth of deten­tion, but if I remem­ber cor­rectly, he also said, “damn, that was worth it — how often do you get to say that?”

So insen­si­tive, this boy, for keep­ing the dis­ci­pline mas­ter in his proper sta­tion.

But apart from the occa­sional deri­sive, “eh, your friend gov­ern­ment school one ah?”, we got along fine at this insti­tu­tion, where we schooled with the likes of the Tans, the Shaws, the Tangs, the Wees and the Liens. (Other fam­i­lies went to a less fun college).

P.S. photo has noth­ing to do with this post, so don’t read any­thing into it. I couldn’t.

iTunes is play­ing an ille­gal copy of The Ground Beneath Her Feet from the album “The Mil­lion Dol­lar Hotel” by U2 & Daniel Lanois of which I have the orig­i­nal CD.

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  • http://shianux.jiyuuu.org Han

    wahaha, lagi best story ever. I can imag­ine it must be the most sat­is­fy­ing come­back ever.

  • http://shianux.jiyuuu.org Han

    wahaha, lagi best story ever. I can imag­ine it must be the most sat­is­fy­ing come­back ever.

  • http://blacksheepoo.blogspot.com denise

    WHOA. that must have felt SO good. by the way, which JC were you from Miyagi??

  • http://blacksheepoo.blogspot.com denise

    WHOA. that must have felt SO good. by the way, which JC were you from Miyagi??

  • http://miyagi.sg Mr Miyagi
  • http://miyagi.sg Mr Miyagi

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  • http://gimps.de Marina mak­ing pictures

    Great story. I think the boy has done the right thing by pro­tect­ing his own indi­vid­u­al­ity against the mas­ter. I find this stroy is very motivating.

    Thank you for shar­ing this story with me !

  • http://gimps.de Marina mak­ing pictures

    Great story. I think the boy has done the right thing by pro­tect­ing his own indi­vid­u­al­ity against the mas­ter. I find this stroy is very motivating.

    Thank you for shar­ing this story with me !

  • http://karmadgeon.blogs.com Muffy Wong

    No one ever accused you boys of being slow to react! Most of my friends who I hold in high regard when it comes to speak­ing good Eng­lish are from your school.

  • http://karmadgeon.blogs.com Muffy Wong

    No one ever accused you boys of being slow to react! Most of my friends who I hold in high regard when it comes to speak­ing good Eng­lish are from your school.

  • kayangmo TAN

    Can I share my own story in VJC? 1989 (1 year behind Diana Ser)
    I was walk­ing along the cor­ri­dor with an ice cream in my mouth. The super-on PE teacher (like to show off one), shouted at me, when he was hold­ing a class in the indoor hall. He shouted to me to go to him (eat­ing is for­bid­den).
    I walked damm slowly to him. Almost moon walk. When I arrived, he was fum­ing hot while the class was won­der­ing who this “hero” was.
    Walk­ing slowly up to him, he began to shout again and said why I walked so slowly. I told him, my leg was injured (luck­ily for me, it was true) and that I was not allowed to run or walk fast, doctor’s orders.
    He tak­boleh tahan!
    Since then I became “choot mia liao”…

    BTW Where you get the swing­ing Elvis? I can­not find leh!

  • kayangmo TAN

    Can I share my own story in VJC? 1989 (1 year behind Diana Ser)
    I was walk­ing along the cor­ri­dor with an ice cream in my mouth. The super-on PE teacher (like to show off one), shouted at me, when he was hold­ing a class in the indoor hall. He shouted to me to go to him (eat­ing is for­bid­den).
    I walked damm slowly to him. Almost moon walk. When I arrived, he was fum­ing hot while the class was won­der­ing who this “hero” was.
    Walk­ing slowly up to him, he began to shout again and said why I walked so slowly. I told him, my leg was injured (luck­ily for me, it was true) and that I was not allowed to run or walk fast, doctor’s orders.
    He tak­boleh tahan!
    Since then I became “choot mia liao”…

    BTW Where you get the swing­ing Elvis? I can­not find leh!

  • kayangmo TAN

    I can tell you another story from Dun­man High School.

    Pants with pleats, ver­sus Pants with­out pleats.

    IN short my long­pants was with pleats, because down there I quite big, and also my thighs were big due to vol­ley­ball train­ing daily. Pants with­out pleats made me very obscene and uncom­fort­able. (demo’ed to school teacher)

    From sec 3 to 4, we had to change to wear­ing long pants, and the school rules was “NO PLEATS”.

    In the end, I ended up in the dis­ci­pline master’s room, with MY FATHER! He was from Chong Cheng High (famous for bus riot, remem­ber? and stu­dent protests).

    He rea­soned with the super­strict dis­ci­pline mas­ter, who could not pro­vide a cal­pa­ble answer to why we must wear pants with­out pleats.

    In fact back in 1960s, pants with­out pleats were the style from the gang­ster pupils. In the end, I ini­ti­ated a rev­o­lu­tion change in school, and the school reluc­tantly allowed pants with pleats again.

    My father’s advice to me (very sound til today), was to REASON with the school management.

    Not to give in, unless we are con­vinced of the real rea­son behind the rules.

    Since then, I am fer­vent vis­i­tor to the Dis­ci­pline Master’s room, but he can do me no harm, since I started to rea­son with him, instead of argu­ing with him.

    He soon left me alone, since I could out­rea­son him.

    Sounds famil­iar? Bul­ly­ing by school teach­ers are the most com­mon thing in Sin­ga­pore.
    :D

  • kayangmo TAN

    I can tell you another story from Dun­man High School.

    Pants with pleats, ver­sus Pants with­out pleats.

    IN short my long­pants was with pleats, because down there I quite big, and also my thighs were big due to vol­ley­ball train­ing daily. Pants with­out pleats made me very obscene and uncom­fort­able. (demo’ed to school teacher)

    From sec 3 to 4, we had to change to wear­ing long pants, and the school rules was “NO PLEATS”.

    In the end, I ended up in the dis­ci­pline master’s room, with MY FATHER! He was from Chong Cheng High (famous for bus riot, remem­ber? and stu­dent protests).

    He rea­soned with the super­strict dis­ci­pline mas­ter, who could not pro­vide a cal­pa­ble answer to why we must wear pants with­out pleats.

    In fact back in 1960s, pants with­out pleats were the style from the gang­ster pupils. In the end, I ini­ti­ated a rev­o­lu­tion change in school, and the school reluc­tantly allowed pants with pleats again.

    My father’s advice to me (very sound til today), was to REASON with the school management.

    Not to give in, unless we are con­vinced of the real rea­son behind the rules.

    Since then, I am fer­vent vis­i­tor to the Dis­ci­pline Master’s room, but he can do me no harm, since I started to rea­son with him, instead of argu­ing with him.

    He soon left me alone, since I could out­rea­son him.

    Sounds famil­iar? Bul­ly­ing by school teach­ers are the most com­mon thing in Sin­ga­pore.
    :D

  • http://web.singnet.com.sg/web-homes.html fynyx

    Hi Miyagi,

    I knew you said not to con­nect photo with post,
    but I couldn’t resist link­ing your title to your shot:

    So The King says to all & sundry,

    “Bless the squire & his rela­tions,
    includ­ing Vader & the Stormies,
    Mike & the Mon­sters,
    Mr Tum­nus & the Narnians …

    “Thank you very much.”

    By the way,
    I was from that less fun junior col­lege for ini­tial months,
    and its pre­cur­sor for 4 years before that.

    Back then,
    I stood up for my indi­vid­u­al­ity
    by once call­ing my peers proud,
    and promptly got branded for being a traitor,

    espe­cially when I went to another junior col­lege for the rest of the years,
    because I wanted to seek my roots.

    :-) I’m still true-blue Singaporean.

  • http://web.singnet.com.sg/web-homes.html fynyx

    Hi Miyagi,

    I knew you said not to con­nect photo with post,
    but I couldn’t resist link­ing your title to your shot:

    So The King says to all & sundry,

    “Bless the squire & his rela­tions,
    includ­ing Vader & the Stormies,
    Mike & the Mon­sters,
    Mr Tum­nus & the Narnians …

    “Thank you very much.”

    By the way,
    I was from that less fun junior col­lege for ini­tial months,
    and its pre­cur­sor for 4 years before that.

    Back then,
    I stood up for my indi­vid­u­al­ity
    by once call­ing my peers proud,
    and promptly got branded for being a traitor,

    espe­cially when I went to another junior col­lege for the rest of the years,
    because I wanted to seek my roots.

    :-) I’m still true-blue Singaporean.

  • melvin

    Mr Miyagi, The Best Is Yet To Be!

  • melvin

    Mr Miyagi, The Best Is Yet To Be!

  • http://mrsuan.blogspot.com wenzi

    This entry really reminds me of my time in sec­ondary school when my school always mocked that the best would never be, and in turn we got ret­ri­bu­tion by never ever win­ning rugby finals for 40 years.

    those were the days!! at least there was a sense of unity in the rivalry.

    hahas.. so its true that raf­fle­sians rule the coun­try but ACS owns it. =)

  • http://mrsuan.blogspot.com wenzi

    This entry really reminds me of my time in sec­ondary school when my school always mocked that the best would never be, and in turn we got ret­ri­bu­tion by never ever win­ning rugby finals for 40 years.

    those were the days!! at least there was a sense of unity in the rivalry.

    hahas.. so its true that raf­fle­sians rule the coun­try but ACS owns it. =)

  • six­sphere

    well you do get into this kind sit­u­a­tion in poly too when you try to ‘smoke’ your way through assign­ments and pre­sen­ta­tions. The sky is really the limit in poly. so no mat­ter what cock you say, just back it up with rea­son­ing.
    Best to see all the lec­tur­ers with their LL face. =)

  • six­sphere

    well you do get into this kind sit­u­a­tion in poly too when you try to ‘smoke’ your way through assign­ments and pre­sen­ta­tions. The sky is really the limit in poly. so no mat­ter what cock you say, just back it up with rea­son­ing.
    Best to see all the lec­tur­ers with their LL face. =)

  • http://www.haato.com.sg Lin­coln

    Like War­ran Choo say­ing.. “my father army what”…when Win­ston Choo was at the helm.

  • http://www.haato.com.sg Lin­coln

    Like War­ran Choo say­ing.. “my father army what”…when Win­ston Choo was at the helm.

  • non­channn

    hahaha…now our dear PM’s son is in the army too…Orcifer somemore…i think he can say it’s “his father’s army too…” hahaha… i won­der if any­one of his train­ers dare to tekan him or con­fine him…hahaha.

  • non­channn

    hahaha…now our dear PM’s son is in the army too…Orcifer somemore…i think he can say it’s “his father’s army too…” hahaha… i won­der if any­one of his train­ers dare to tekan him or con­fine him…hahaha.

  • John

    This is nice… So you caused trou­ble last time in school, Miyagi? Or to your Chi­nese teach­ers too? Haha..

  • John

    This is nice… So you caused trou­ble last time in school, Miyagi? Or to your Chi­nese teach­ers too? Haha..

  • http://miyagi.sg Mr Miyagi

    No. I was good. Go ask my teach­ers who are still alive.

  • http://miyagi.sg Mr Miyagi

    No. I was good. Go ask my teach­ers who are still alive.

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